Back to School: Is it the most wonderful time of the year?

Back to School! Back to making lunches! Back to homework! ARGHHHHHHHH

This year there is no back to school excitement coming from me. ‘It’s the most Wonderful Time of the Year’ is not being sung by me. However it would appear I’m the only one as my daughter, Rachelle is excited about going into grade six. My youngest son, Max is going into grade five. My oldest, Jonathan is in his first year of University and my second son, Greg is enjoying the life in his second year of CEGEP.

 

Usually by this time I feel this urge of excitement for a new stage and getting back to an orchestrated routine.  No, this year I want more summer, more down time, more canoeing and lake time. I would welcome more time-freedom with no obligations.  Am I completely alone on this?

 

Am I ready for the onslaught of forms and notes from the school, the fundraising that always seems to be time-consuming and now the search for a high school with all the open houses and entrance exams that need to put on the calendar? Am I ready for the scheduled activities like hockey, piano, guitar, snowboarding and hip hop? Too much?  Maybe…

 

Usually every year a week right before school I take some time off.  I like to relax to the point of complete boredom. I am then ready for the busyness and anxious to get back to a routine and maybe a new and different one. How did I let it slip away this year, that sacred quiet and down time right before school starts, right before I get back to work?…..oh yeah…it’s called life (hockey try-outs, soccer play-offs and my husband is travelling).

 

So I came back to town a week early.  I was not a happy camper, frustrated especially since I instinctively figured I should get back to doing everything since I was in town.  For some of us that work from home, going home feels like going to work.  Not everyone feels like this but lately, I do.  We have our office on the main floor at the front of the house.  It is easy to check and answer emails for work, take care of household finances and start dinner at the same time.  Then there are the household chores that need to get done before school starts.  After vacation, they are peering at me from every corner of my home……maybe I need therapy but I do understand that it’s typical for a mom to want to make her ‘nest’ orderly before the offspring set off on new journeys.

 

When the school year kicks in I’m usually all commando; have the lunch section set up and ready to make lunches everyday………this usually lasts about 3 weeks.  Their rooms (ok the two younger ones, I’ve but almost given up on the two older ones) are sorted through, cleaned and organized.  Ready Set Go!  They start going to bed at the normal time to get into a routine (except the two older ones, I’m sure they would want me to point that out along with the next comments about homework). I’m ready with their homework stations in my office next to me. Aha, here it is……probably one of the main reasons I’m hesitant about back to school this year is because of HOMEWORK!

 

When it comes to homework I’m a bit of a mixed bag.  Sometimes I think there is not enough, sometimes I think there is too much, sometimes I think the homework is just a waste of time and yes I even think that sometimes the homework is just an insult to my intelligence or lack of…..either way it’s an insult! Or how about those wonderful ‘family’ projects that some teachers feel the need to assign in order to help families bond!!!!! Really?  Seriously?  It can sometimes do just the opposite.  Sure, some of the projects can be fun, but I can come up with my own family projects, on my own terms and our own time.  These projects that the teachers assign take time away from the fun things I want to do with my kids and the things that I want to teach my kids……ok…. maybe I can take advantage and teach them more about patience when doing these projects. Only as long as it doesn’t involve any sewing this time!

 

I figure they are in school for 6-7 hours a day…..when you think about it, that’s a lot of hours…. A lot of learning can be done in that amount of time, so yes, why the homework?  At the same time I like seeing what they’ve learned that day.

 

But if there is homework, why show the kids Hollywood movies in class instead of learning or reinforcing what they’ve learned?  I understand that in most cases it is used as a reward. When trying to limit the amount of hours my children spend in front of an electronic device I find myself at odds with an educational system which rewards kids with TV! I would like to see rewards of a different kind. For instance, take the kids outside and play a game or better yet do a ‘family in class’ project!

 

So how can I prepare myself to get into a productive momentum and positive state. Maybe I should just stop complaining after all there are far worse things happening  in the world right now, sort of seems frivolous to be up in arms  and miserable about my kids going back to school……

 

Life is pretty good and I will adjust like all us moms do on a regular basis.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will make a point of spoiling myself. I will read another book hopefully as funny as Tina Fey’s ‘Bossypants’.  I will get back into my exercise and health program. I’ve always wanted to ride my bike with the kids to school in the mornings. I think that just doing activities to extend summer will help me forget that Christmas is only 4 months away (by the way I LOVE Christmas…..just not now).

How much fun would it be to use one of my gift certificates to a Nordic spa in order to ease myself into this back to school and back to work routine?   Yahoo for the gift certificates that I never made time to use yet. It is now time to check out the entire file of unused gift certificates to see what else I can do!   “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”!  Ok….I’m good now!

Gayle Fransham